Late start thanks to Return of the King and a bit of Christmas gift exchange. Tim (Anpago Yost) impresses everyone by providing foam ring-shooters that we all use to torment Bruce (Longfellow Yost), who tried to slip off for a moment to work. Chris (Tonk Sangaree) and Chuck (Darg Sangaree) are strangely quiet, at least until they break into terrifying Indian war whoops and commence with the foam-disk devastation.
Born into the small Yost merchant family, she was entered into an arranged marriage at a young age to cement the alliance of the Yost family and the Sangaree merchant family. Over the next 12 years, she lost any romantic notions she might have had about marriage, and spent much of her time studying magic with an uncle. She recently announced to her husband that she was off to see the world, and as she could bend the wind to her will, throw lightening from her hand, and turn night into day, if he had a problem with her travels, he best keep it to himself. She left her children to the care of the house servants, packed some small belongings, and left the next morning.
The characters start the session in the foothills outside the mountains that shelter the city of Highthrone. They spend some time debating whether or not to purchase nice warm clothing before heading up the mountain. They eventually decide that the risk of frostbite is acceptably low, and refrain from spending money. However, they also learn that the mountain paths include grades of up to 30°, far too steep to allow their wagon to proceed. The characters sell the wagon and purchase two sure-footed mules with the proceeds. A greasy-looking Yankee trader type offers to sell Darg Sangaree twice as many clod-footed "lowland" mules for half the price, but he is skeptical and declines. Longfellow Yost pipes up, "I love mules! I use my obscene Animal Handling skills to make sure we get good mules!" Tonk Sangaree looks away, afraid of the possible extent of obscenity Longfellow might be willing to go.
Midafternoon on the second day of marching, the sunny and peaceful afternoon is interrupted by a rock. A fifty-pound rock hurtling in from the far distance at shocking speed. And after the first, there comes a second. Longfellow Yost yells, "I dodge!" and heads for the ground. Darg Sangaree chastises him "Take it like a man!" Longfellow responds from behind a large tree, "Can I quote you on that?" Darg just stands there and watches as Tonk takes the first rock right in the kisser. Anpago Yost takes the second boulder with a fluid, cracking sound.
By the time the second rock hits the ground, the characters have become terribly aware of a twelve-foot gray-skinned giant standing about 180 feet away. The giant lets fly with a second round of stones, smashing Anpago around some more. Longfellow decides that he'd really rather not be smashed around by stones and brings up an Obscuring Mist. Upon realizing that he cannot see (and thus cannot target) the giant to cast spells, Anpago walks over to Longfellow and tries to whack him on the back of the head. He is frustrated evening this task by the wiles of the mist.
Darg Sangaree steps out of the mist and promptly gets pulverized by a third well-aimed volley of stones. Longfellow hears the cracking of bone and calls out, "Dude! Why did you step out of the mist?" Darg just gurgles weakly. Longfellow runs over and zaps him with the wand of Cure Light Wounds, possibly saving his life. Darg wheezes in gratitude.
Most of the group spends some quality time hiding in the mist slurping down healing potions and finding cover, mindful that the mist will vanish in only a few minutes. The only exception is Tonk, who moves forward and finds cover in a crevasse. He avoids a couple of rocks, whistles up his three war dogs and covers their approach by firing arrows into the giant. He whoops in delight when he finally manages to hit the creature.
Overcome by a sudden attack of bravery, Longfellow sneaks forward out of the mist just in time to watch the giant stagger one of the war dogs with a thrown boulder and kill a second with a swing of its mighty club. He continues to watch as Anpago steps forward to send two Fireballs into the creature, blackening its skin and making it mad. It responds by squashing the surviving two dogs with vigor. Annoyed by the giant's failure to die, Anpago is forced to turn to his old standby, Tasha's Hideous Laughter. The giant shakes off the spell, and then pounds Tonk into the ground. Tonk staggers, then calls out, "Itsh okaee! I jerst tuk thatun in me head!" He staggers back in what is actually a very fancy spring attack and guzzles another healing potion.
Longfellow finally moves forwards and casts a Flaming Sphere at the giant. The giant roars and swats it away as if it were a particularly annoying insect. Longfellow is just terribly terribly proud that he managed to do some damage to the creature. Tonk looks up briefly, his arms red to the elbows with giant entrails, and comments, "Nice job, kid. Now figure out a way to make that happen every turn."
Anpago starts experimenting with other types of magic and throws Reduce at the giant. He boasts, "It'll reduce his STR by five if he doesn't make a Fortitude save!" Darg looks over at him and says, "You know, giants are known for their Fortitude..." The giant barely even notices the spell. Darg shows how it's done by hitting the giant with Random Action. He very proudly points out that the spell takes a Will save to avoid as the giant succumbs and falls into a total defensive stance. Tonk complains, "He's just become effectively invulnerable!" Darg comments, "At least he's not crushing you with that club of his!"
Anpago moves to flank the giant, casting Mage Armor on himself. The uncaring universe notes, "That way, he'll only miss if he rolls less than a five!" The giant swings wildly and clobbers Anpago, killing him instantly. Tonk strikes out at the giant, chopping it pretty badly. Watches-Birds-at-Dawn charges into the fight and scratches the giant. The giant staggers. And then Darg gets it square on with his greatsword, first disemboweling it and then stabbing it through the heart.
The characters promptly say some prayers over Anpago's body (gaining 15 Piety Points per level; he was 6th level, so 90 points! Boo-ya!). They create a funeral pyre for him and for Tonk's three dogs. Darg leads the ceremony, but allows Tonk to say a few words. Tonk stands before the pyre and says, "I always liked the way Malarkey would wake us at 3:00 in the morning, just because there was a squirrel." The other characters shuffle their feet and say nothing.
The characters search the giant's body. They find:
Longfellow confirms that the tower shield and the scroll are both magical. Nothing else is, not even the tinderbox. Darg takes the scroll of three divine spells.
Beyond the giant's possession, Anpago has several magical objects worth distributing. The characters very solemnly gather them up and distribute them:
Tonk calculates that Anpago's ready cash divides up into three shares of 5 copper, 8 silver, 1 platinum and 161 gold. The characters take their shares, though Longfellow holds his in trust (and eventually gives it to Padachee Sangaree when she appears). Each character gains 900 experience for the fight.
The characters continue up the mountain. The air starts to become very thin. Within a couple of hours of travel, both Longfellow and Friday the Gnoll are visibly suffering. Everyone else is fine. On Longfellow's urging, the characters decide to stop and rest for a while. After four hours, Friday is doing well but Longfellow still looks rather blue around the edges. The characters decide to camp for the night.
Darg and Friday are on watch when a man walks out of the darkness. He is dressed in fine clothes, in a style that makes Darg think immediately of a lawyer. He carries a walking stick with a large sparkling gem on the head. He smiles at Darg. Darg whispers, "Friday, wake the others!" Friday scuttles off.
The stranger addresses Darg, "Greetings. I am Lord Rosh. I have come to retrieve something from you. I believe you have a large gem that belongs to me." Tonk offers, "Is this about the gem that was stolen by a halfling?" Lord Rosh nods. Tonk explains the characters' previous history with the gem, in particular that it has already been returned to three mercenaries who were to take it to Lord Kildare Dostavar. Lord Rosh claims that the gem belongs to him, and that Lord Dostavar was merely carrying it. He asks permission to search the characters' equipment. Darg offers, "Perhaps we can do this at dawn, underneath a flag of truce?" Tonk indicates that he thinks this to be the most polite option and asks that Lord Rosh wait with them until dawn. He notices that none of Lord Rosh's companions are in evidence, even though Rosh had mentioned that he was not traveling alone. The Lord indicates that they are "waiting." Probably somewhere beyond the circle of firelight with weapons drawn.
While they wait, Darg asks Lord Rosh to tell the characters about Highthrone. Lord Rosh indicates that he is not from Highthrone; he is from lands to the South. Darg rather curiously asks, "Spider Woods south?" Lord Rosh answers, "From the Dragon Kingdoms." Lord Rosh indicates that the gem was a loan, but now is the time to collect.
Soon enough, dawn comes. Tonk and Longfellow busy themselves preparing breakfast. Lord Rosh sniffs the air and asks, "Is that widdle-wort? Could you put on some widdle-wort tea?" Tonk very obligingly boils some water for tea.
When dawn approaches, Lord Rosh searches the characters and agrees that they do not have the gem. He gives them a clear gem, rounded, with some facets, slightly more than an inch in diameter, "for their trouble". Longfellow verifies that it is magical, but none of them have any idea what it might do.
It takes three more Fortitude rolls before the characters reach the First Terrace beneath Highthrone. By that time, Longfellow is sucking wind badly. He takes 11 points of subdual damage in addition to suffering a -3 penalty on everything. Tonk playfully bats him on the head and tells him, "Don't worry, kid! The air's a lot thicker in the city! I wouldn't lie to you!" Longfellow coughs weakly and tries to smile.
The city of Highthrone is nestled into a valley at the top of a mountain. The First Terrace is the lowest inhabited level, and the characters are able to see that there is quite a bit of work going on there to support the new highway. Teams of workmen are breaking rocks for the road. Above them, masons are working on a series of new fortifications. And all along the planned route carpenters and laborers are putting together road-houses and taverns.
Tonk boasts to some of the workmen, "We just killed a giant! Four of us, some dogs and a bear fell upon the creature!" Longfellow cautions him, "Dude! Those things might be an endangered species around here! Maybe we shouldn't boast about killing one." One workman speaks up, "Go ahead! Haven't you heard of the Giants War?" Darg scratches his well-muscled head and asks, "Wasn't that the one between the goblins and the dwarves?" The workman scoffs, "No, you simpleton! It was a hundred years ago, and the giants around here still hate humans." Tonk reflects, "Well, that explains why it started off throwing stones at us." The workman exclaims, "Those stones can be deadly!" Tonk grouses, "No kidding..."
The characters debate with the workman where they might find their cousin Jebediah Sangaree in the city. They eventually decide that the best place to start looking is a place called Ale Paradise in the Terraces. The workman provides directions that go through Land's Plenty and Weaver's Hold.
Land's Plenty is dominated by orderly fields of grain and tubers. Around the edges it also features smaller fields of exotic spices and herbs. Longfellow notices many signs of druidic presence.
Weaver's Hold is above Land's Plenty. The characters use one of Highthrone's famous magical elevators to reach it. The elevator is huge, big enough to support an entire wagon. There is a huge iron crank on a box at the back of the platform. As the operator turns the crank the elevator rises up or descends down with a tremendous clanging sound. Clang-clang-clang. Every clang produces an explosion of magic from the crank box. The elevator is otherwise totally unsupported - it goes up and down entirely through magic.
Weaver's Hold is a textile center. The edge of the terrace includes several meadows for peaks rams, sheep the size of horses. The rest of the terrace is occupied by workshops to shear the sheep, spin the yarn, weave cloth, and dye it. The stink of dye is in the air.
From Weaver's Hold, the characters take some paths to Ale Paradise, which is also apparently called either Drunk Town or Puke Hole. The characters speculate that the locals only use the first name around out-of-towners.
Taverns. Ale-houses. Inns. Public-houses. Ale Paradise has all of these in spades. The streets are lined with them. Tipsy locals and wasted foreigners stagger from one to the next.
The characters take their time, working through the taverns one by one looking for cousin Jebediah. The people are very friendly, always walking up to the characters and patting them down. Everyone keeps careful watch upon their purses. After some looking they find a guide who claims to be able to show them all the best places to go for the nominal fee of 4 gold per day. Tonk hands him money and tells him to find a place to stable the donkeys. He lists off a series of possible places:
Some of these places are located up on the Main Terrace. As the characters get to the Main Terrace they pass through a big archway carved with designs. As they pass under, the archway bursts into flames. In the distance, the characters can see two other archways in flames. The guide is staggered - he has never seen them do this before. He explains that these are the Wind-Gates, carved by the priests of Veharika, the Lady of the Winds. Darg thinks that she is one of Farlanghn's subordinates or intermediaries.
A group of women in white robes run towards the characters. The characters deduce that these are priestesses of Veharika. The characters immediately decide that the priestesses suspect that they are responsible for destroying the Wind-Gates. The first priestess on the scene disabuses them of that notion, exclaiming, "I don't think it's you! I think it's the goblins! They're attacking the city!" The characters react instantly, "What? Which goblins? Where? Let us at 'em!"
The characters see teams of goblins riding upon giant spiders pouring over the mountain peak. Tonk yells out, "How many giant spiders?" Longfellow rather lamely offers that he can see hundreds of the things, and that the goblins on their backs have lances. Tonk suggests finding another group of defenders and linking up with them. The other characters surmise from his expression that he is not willing to lay odds on his chances of seeing the next morning.
By incredible happenstance, the characters also see a small group of their own relatives desperately holding off a particularly vicious gang of goblins. The Sangaree family members look to include Padachee Sangaree (Anpago's older sister, long married to a Sangaree. She has more book-larnin but less field experience [and fewer teeth] than he did). At her side are cousin Jeremiah Sangaree, whom she has come to really hate, and at least one other nameless member of the Sangaree clan. Longfellow notices that Jeremiah and his body-servant are pointing fingers and goblins and yelling, "Zorch! Woah, I'm so fuckin' wasted!...".
Darg yells out, "They're endangering themselves and drawing attention to themselves! We must go to their aid!" The characters run towards the Northeast portion of town. The streets around these parts are made from huge slabs of a rough, dark stone. All the buildings are multistory with plentiful stairways.
The characters find themselves facing off against five goblin spider-riders, all of them clambering down a sheer cliff wall. Tonk and Darg start firing arrows even before the goblins reach the ground. As soon as they touch down, Padachee places a Flaming Sphere on top of a wounded rider, then follows it with a volley of Magic Missiles. In response, the spider-riders crash into the characters' line. Darg executes a staggering hit upon a spider and Tonk whirls about carving through goblin and spider alike. Watches-Birds goes medieval on the rider in front of him and is quite surprised when the creature withstands two full-on hits from his claws. It doesn't manage to survive the third. Watches-Birds licks his paws in satisfaction.
Tonk asks, "How do you train goblins to fight a bear? Do you push them into bear caves and collect the spiders later on?" Nobody has time to answer him as the goblin counterattack desperately injures the nameless Sangaree relative. Darg, juiced up with Bull's Strength, responds by slaying the spider in front of him. The goblin on its back demonstrates that one of the advantages of riding spiders is that when they die, they just slump down. Darg demonstrates that one of the advantages of being a near-crazed priest of Kord is the ability to cleave directly through both a breastplate and its wearer in a single overwhelming strike. The goblin simply bubbles and dies.
Tonk nods his approval with Darg's performance, then shows how this sort of thing is really meant to be handled. He swings about, delivering slashing wounds to everything near him with a series of whirlwind attacks that leave two spiders dead and their riders injured.
Padachee Sangaree performs cleanup with a pair of Flaming Spheres, which she uses to fry everything in the area that isn't related to her. The final goblin, trapped atop the smoldering remains of his spider by dashing balls of flame, rather desperately attempts to drink a potion and then succumbs to his wounds. He does an impression of a roman candle, with his brain flying out of his head.
The characters stand victorious. They can see in other places that the local constabulary has shown up in force and is busily routing the raiders. The characters commence looting the bodies. Padachee makes sure that the spiders are good and cooked before anyone touches them. The loot includes:
The goblins aren't carrying any cash, because people usually don't bring that sort of thing along when they go raiding. The battle is worth a total of 1457 experience points to each characters, which is enough to allow Longfellow to go up a level. He exults to the skies! Woohoo!
Over the course of the next couple of days Padachee uses her dead brother's alchemical kit to identify the four potions as Cure Moderate Wounds potions.
While the characters are divvying up their loot, they notice that the gem from Lord Rosh is now black. They eventually learn that it was once a "burn the town down" gem, and is now inert. It was the thing that made the Wind-Gates burn to nothing.
The characters head for a magic shop to do some business. They talk to locals until they find their way to a fortress-like place called Grynn's staffed by three humorless kobolds. The kobolds are able to identify the mysterious tower shield as a Tower Shield +1 and the arrows as Screaming Arrows (+2 to hit and damage, plus a DC 14 Will save for all within 20 feet. Failing victims are Shaken, suffering -2 to attacks, damage and saving throws).
Jeremiah estimates that the black pearls are worth about 500 gold each and the white pearls are worth 100 gold each. The kobolds at Grynn's offer 80 each for the two silver pearls, and a fully-charged Wand of Cure Light Wounds for the two black pearls. The characters agree to this deal.
The giant's carved wood face is not worth much - giant handicrafts are available along the freeway from Highthrone all the way to Brownsville. The Grynn's staff explain that they only deal in magical items, and won't even touch it. Not even a tiny little bit.
The characters decide to liquidate every other piece of loot they took from the raiding goblins. They manage to collect 500 gold for the +1 breastplate, and 75 each for the remaining four. Masterwork light lances are not in much demand and only fetch a price of 100 gold each. The masterwork shortbows are more popular, and bring 150 gold each. The total value of sold items is 2890 gold. With an additional 860 gold (contributed by Longfellow), Padachee offers to create a Wand of Flaming Sphere (5th level caster). Everyone (especially Longfellow) agrees that this seems like a good use for the money. Padachee heads off to find a quiet place for some quick wand-making.
The various pieces of giant-sized bric-a-brac except the drinking horn go to various barkeeps and peddlers. The primary return on this investment is that the characters get free drinks for a night at Amber's. The characters also arrange for lodging there, at a price of 3 gold per night per room. The staff at Amber's is also willing to look after the characters donkeys and Watches-Birds-at-Dawn (which leaves Tonk very impressed with the depth and range of their services). Tonk develops a large number of drinking games based around the giant drinking horn.
Each character gains 900 experience for the fight with the giant and 1457 experience for the fight against the goblin raiders, for a total of 2357 experience. This is enough to bring Longfellow up to 5th level, but he still isn't able to decide if he wants to take the level in Rogue or Druid.